Q & A Table of Contents
Effective Agreements
From: Mimi in Alberta, Canada
Question: Can you tell me what are the characteristics of an effective competitive bargainer? What are some other forms of alternative dispute resolution? Also tell me some key features of an effective agreement and how to get one.
Response: Your question goes to the heart of the choice of negotiating styles people can employ. Competitive bargaining has also been described as distributive, adjudicative, or zero-sum bargaining. In competitive bargaining, you have a winner and a loser. Very rarely do both or all parties to a competitive negotiation walk away feeling equally pleased with the results.
A competitive bargainer takes the approach that this negotiation is a one-shot deal; whatever I can 'win' now is all I care about. My future relationship with the person with whom I am negotiating is either of no consequence to me -- or I want that relationship to be based on their understanding that whenever they negotiate with me, I am going to come out on top.
Competitive strategies can succeed in the short term; however, in the long term most people will go out of their way to avoid negotiating with a competitive bargainer. In your peresonal life, if folks figure that negotiating with you is a losing proposition, they may tend to avoid you. In business it is equally dire; if potential customers or suppliers figure you're going to try to steamroll over them, they are likely to look for alternative people or companies with which to do business. You can begin to resemble the mythical washing machine repairman who never gets any calls.
The result of the competitive approach often means a party leaves the negotiation grumbling, "If that so-and-so thinks I'm going to live up to that bargain s/he rammed down my throat, they'll have to take me to court!"
Interest-based negotiation is a far more realistic approach for reaching wise, fair, durable agreements using efficient, respectful, mutually-rewarding processes. Thus, the negotiators need to consider not only their own immediate personal interests, but also the consequences for other parties of any agreement they reach. This approach, which we promote at The Negotiation Skills Company (TNSC) through our consulting, training, and public communications, focuses on the interests of the stakeholders. TNSC has been hired by multinational clients to retrain their executives and managers to overcome their previous experience or training in competitive bargaining.
The practical consequences of utilizing interest-based approaches are that the parties find areas of mutual agreement upon which to build a resolution, the process is fair, and good interest-based negotiators are more likely to enhance relationships that are beneficial in both business and personal situations. For information on interest-based negotiation, I recommend you read articles found on our web site.
An effective agreement addresses the interests of the parties, keeping in mind such issues as fairness, the relationship, the capacity and willingness of each party to make a commitment and implement it, and the creativity each party employs to add value to the process and the agreement itself.
Good luck and good negotiating, Steve.
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